Review: Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

This is an intriguing story, revealed in the form of a hidden notebook found in the psychiatric wing of a young offenders institute. It has been written by Emily 'Krazy' Koll, the daughter of a notorious London gangster, who has been incarcerated for an act of violent revenge. Clue #1 "Don't believe everything you read".  Quite what that act is is not revealed until the very end of the novel, and believe me, you will turn those pages quickly to find out!

However, be warned - an unhinged 17 year old girl is definitely not a reliable narrator - how much of what Emily writes is true? She's been living a double life and I think this has definitely taken it's toll on her and how she remembers the events that are unfolded in the pages of her notebook. Clue #2 who's writing in the notebook?

Emily knows nothing of her dad's criminal activities, until he murders the policeman leading an investigation on him, and the policeman's daughter - Juliet Shaw - stabs Emily's father in self defence.  Then, her whole world falls apart: has her entire life been a lie? What happened to her mother? Bent on revenge, Emily sets out to unpick Juliet's 'perfect' life, one thread at a time until there is nothing left. Clue #3 pay attention to things that go missing.

I have a theory about what really happens in this story, but for now, I'm going to keep that to myself... If you read this book, then we can talk. This was an engrossing read, and Byrne expertly keeps you guessing right up until the end (and beyond!)

"You want to know what happened, why I did it. That's why you're reading this, right?" 

'Yes!' I screamed in my head, 'YES!'. I'm hoping that when Tanya Byrne is at YALC I'll be able to try out my theory on her and get some answers! In the meantime, you should totally read this book!

#ThisBook

The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction winner will be announced tomorrow. Ahead of that, they have launched #ThisBook – an exciting social media campaign to find the novels written by women that have most impacted the nation.

To support the launch, a diverse selection of inspiring women, including Jennifer Saunders, Dawn O’Porter, Susanna Reid and Martha Lane Fox, have come together to encourage book lovers across the nation to nominate the novel, written by a woman, which has had the biggest impact on their lives.

My chosen #ThisBook is Oryx and Crake by the awesome Margaret Atwood. I first read it when it came out over 10 years ago, but it's one of those books that stays with you. Probably because it's terrifying. In a 'this is totally the way things are headed' kind of way. In fact, Atwood pulled the following developments directly from the headlines of our newspapers, magazines and websites.

The story is told by Snowman, who is mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and wondering what happened to his once close friend Crake and where the world went wrong: genetically altered animals, the elimination of the middle class, ecological disaster, the commodification of just about everything, and humanity's extinction. You can read an except here.

There are two more books in the series, The Year of The Flood, and MaddAddam, which was published last summer.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

It's 1986 and two awkward teenagers fall in love on the school bus. It's not love at first sight - far from it - but an act of kindness on behalf of Park, a half-Korean kid who doesn't conform to his father's ideals of masculinity, allows the pair to discover some common ground. Eleanor, a large girl with unruly red curls and dreadful clothes isn't used to kindness: she's an easy target for bullies, and

for her abusive step-father.


Through a shared passion for music and Alan Moore's The Watchmen, Eleanor and Park grow closer and closer, in spite of the pressures exerted on them by their peers and their families (and these people's views on what is 'normal' and acceptable). Rowell uses her cast of characters to explore gender roles, identity and race, and what it means to be a family. There's a really good balance between her portrayal of the positive experiences of teenagers - the excitement of first love, making mix-tapes etc - and the heartbreakingly negative ones - domestic violence, child abuse, bullying.


This could have been a really depressing read, but fortunately, once our pair finally admit and accept their attraction to each other, they become a force to be reckoned with. That said, if you're thinking of picking this book up and getting the 'happily ever after' ending, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. This isn't a childish love story, it's a book that shows the damage that some people can inflict on others, and how they in turn can survive it. At times the drama can seem a little OTT and melodramatic, but there's something about it that still strikes a chord, and I definitely had a lump in my throat reading several emotional scenes.

Fave bit of dialogue:
"I love you," he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes shiny and black, then looked away. "I know," she said.
...

“You know?" he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her. "You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know."
"I'm totally the Han Solo," she whispered. It was good to hear her. It was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh.
"Well, I'm not the Princess Leia," he said.
"Don't get so hung up on gender roles," Eleanor said.”
...

“You can be Han Solo," he said, kissing her throat. "And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”


Rowell may not be hung up on gender roles, but if I'm honest, this is a book for the girls. There's plenty of pop culture references in there that would appeal to both 'typical' males and females, but I'm not sure if boys would really get/be interested in the popular girls' bitching and bullying of Eleanor, Eleanor's hang ups with her appearance or her relationships with her mother and her younger siblings. Also, this is a YA novel that means just that: young ADULT - there is plenty of swearing, abusive and threatening notes of a sexual nature, references to drug and alcohol abuse, and teenage pregnancy. None of this is done gratuitously, but I would definitely suggest that this is a 14+ book.

Review: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

This is another book that I picked up to read ahead of #yalc. I've seen the eponymous hero grinning at me from the cover in the school library for years, and never once felt the urge to pick him up. I don't know why, maybe the graffiti font or the garish colours made me think this was a book for boys who needed bright colours and grinning skeletons to make them pick up a book. Oh how wrong I was!

Firstly, Skulduggery isn't really the hero. Granted, cheating death and surviving as a living skeleton detective with awesome combat and magic skills is pretty heroic, but wait until you meet Stephanie. She's just a teenage girl, chilling out alone in the house that her dead uncle bequeathed her, when she gets thrown into a secret world of magic and ...erm... Skulduggery! The end of the second chapter had my heart racing, and I've already used it as a good example of storytelling with a student I'm tutoring.

As Stephanie is just learning about this new world and trying to figure out how she fits into it, she doesn't  play too much of a part in the numerous action scenes, and does end up being rescued by Skulduggery and his allies on several occasions. What she does have in abundance though, is determination. Despite many characters warning her off the path she has chosen, she is committed to discovering who murdered her uncle and helping Skulduggery to prevent his arch-nemesis from awakening an ancient evil. There's a small part of me that cheers every time Stephanie does something badass in the book - this is a girl that boys enjoy reading about. I'm so unimpressed with the stories in the recent press, such as this one in The Times, about men and boys not being able to read books written by or about females, or deemed to be good by females. Stephanie would kick Frankie's Magic Football right where it hurts! (Don't even get me started on footballers writing books for children...)

The grimace suggests that, perhaps, she already has.

I devoured this book. The fast-paced action, the snarky dialogue and colourful characters made it a real pleasure to read. It's definitely a good book to hook a reluctant reader, as the gripping story and short chapters make it really accessible, but there's also lots in there for more accomplished readers - references to other stories and myths, and Landy is clearly a lover of language - the names of his characters are perfect. For adults who are interested in a bit of YA fiction, if you like Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, you will probably like this.

Why not the full five stars? At the novel's climax, the brilliant dialogue and description was definitely playing second fiddle to the epic fight, and Landy's subtleties that I'd appreciated earlier on became somewhat lost. However, once I have finished my mission to read as many of the authors attending YALC, I will definitely be picking up the rest of this series, as I think this is going to be one awesome adventure!

Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This book had been recommended to me by a girl in Year 9 last year, and despite having owned a copy since December, I only just got around to reading it, in readiness for #yalc, where the author will be appearing. Having only read one of Ness's short stories before, this seemed like the book to start with as it not only won the CILIP Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for writing and illustration in 2012, it also won the National Children's Book of the Year, the Red House Children's Book Award and the Kitschies Red Tentacle award (Best Novel) for speculative fiction. Phew!

But does it live up to the hype? It's a relatively short book - just over 200 pages - but it feels even shorter, as it's absolutely compelling and un-put-downable! Conor, a teenage boy whose mum is battling cancer, is plagued by nightmares and then a monster visits his room one night. At first Conor assumes that it is just another nightmare, but when he awakes to find his bedroom floor covered in yew tree leaves, he realises he's going to have to give the monster what it wants - the truth.

I really enjoyed this book, as it blurred the lines between reality and dream, science and spirituality. In a way, it reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which also used magic and old gods to help a young boy through several experiences of loss. Both of these books have a magical quality of their own, that instantly immerses you in the world of the story, and has you feeling the pain, the fear and the comfort that the protagonists themselves experience. 

What I especially enjoyed about this book, were the stories told by the monster. Conor complains that they're terrible stories because they don't have happy endings, but these stories, to me, are captivating because they, A) establish that not all stories have happy endings, B) present a moral ambiguity that is true to real life, and C) highlight the complex, often contradictory nature of people. That's pretty heavy stuff for a YA book, but massively important stuff too, so hurray for Patrick Ness who doesn't shy away from the tough stuff or dumb it down for the younger audience! 

With that in mind, I don't think this book should be limited to a YA readership - there is an important message in this books for adults and children alike. Ultimately it is a magical story about the limits of reality. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and vice versa. Sometimes, even though you try your hardest and do everything you can to help someone, it' still not enough. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do, for others and for yourself, is to let go. This is a beautifully written, subtle and symbolic story that I would recommend certainly to teenagers, but also adults, especially the ones that think YA fiction is all about sparkly vampires and and other such nonsense!

  

Once I've completed my YALC readathon, I'm really looking forward to reading Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy and More Than This.

One Month On...

Yesterday marked the monthiversary of my #100happy days challenge. Am I happier? Yes.  Is this because of the challenge? To be honest, I don't really think so, but I'm liking taking the photos, and looking forward to my photo album at the end of it.

Some highlights so far have been, in ascending order:

                            New books...                                     New hair...

                            New job...                                          New house... For the boys, at least!

So taking the photos hasn't made me any happier, but on the days where I haven't been to the hairdressers or got a new job, it has made me more conscious of the little things that make me smile. And without sounding too much like an old hippie, I would encourage anyone who's feeling a bit down in the dumps to try and be more mindful of the things that bring them joy, even fleetingly, because it does start to change your outlook on things. I find I am worrying a bit less, especially about things outside of my control, and actually doing more, as I'm actively trying to do more things that make me happy and not just mooching around being a bit 'meh'.

I've been reading more (which was one of my goals when I started this blog), and will try to get some YA reviews posted on here, ahead of me and a friend attending the first EVER Young Adult Literature Convention #yalc. This is doubly if not trebly happy-making as the books I've read so far have been excellent, but to see lots of brilliant writers speaking on panels and running workshops for a whole weekend (plus an exclusive fringe soirée) is going to be AMAZING!!!

I've been writing more - although, clearly not on here. I entered my first short story competition and was chosen as a runner-up. I later found out the most of the entrants were teenagers, which did slightly take the edge of my achievement, but never-mind... I've also started an online fiction-writing course with the Open University, which so far has been really interesting. The best thing about it? It's totally, utterly, 100% FREE! Reader, you too can sign up here if it sounds like something you're interested in. There's lots of other free courses from other universities on all manner of subjects, so have a look. Now. And then come back again!

Lastly, I've been making more. Later this year, I will become a great aunt! I know, how did I get this old? This has meant that the crochet hooks and knitting needles have been out and clicking away; the previously threatened crochet post will become a reality soon! I'm also knocking up a rather lovely pair of book bags for my friend and me to take to YALC so we can stock up on signed copies of our fave authors' works. Can you tell how excited I am about this? Only 52 days, 12 hours and 45 minutes to go. 

Ho hum.

Happiness

Now that spring has sprung, and the sun has put in an appearance, I'm generally feeling optimistic about things. The last 12 months have proved quite challenging for me in a number of respects, but I'm beginning to feel that perhaps I just need to rethink my - for want of a better word - priorities. I've been quite reflective these last few weeks about how things have turned out, and how all the worrying and ranting and analysing I've done about the situations or people that have bothered me have served no purpose other than to make me more anxious about said situations and people.

And it pisses me off! Whilst I'm brooding over whatever problem, I wind myself up about it completely, start thinking about all the (negative) consequences of any course of action and ultimately ends up in some self-pitying  fantasy of running off to some far-flung place and starting a new life. Which then makes me even more miserable, because what sort of wife/mother/friend would do that?!

Um... So this post was called 'Happiness', and so far it's been pretty bleak. Sorry! Here' something to cheer you up:

Awesome tune, and I challenge anyone not to start tapping their toes and grooving along! It also has a great message in the second verse : 

Here come bad news talking this and that
Yeah, give me all you got, don't hold back
Yeah, well I should probably warn you I'll be just fine
Yeah, no offense to you don't waste your time

I've let stuff bother me, when really I should've just said at the time 'I don't agree with this... This is what I'm going to do...' So watch out - I am being happy and I'm not putting up with any of your negative shit, ok?

To keep up the positive vibes, I've started the #100happydays challenge, and will be sharing a photo of something that has made me happy each day on Facebook, but I'm sure a few of them will migrate over here too. Here's my first one:

I had a gorgeous day out with my family at Cholderton Charlie's Farm, picnicking, looking at the animals, watching the boys playing on all the climbing stuff, doing an Easter Egg hunt/quiz and meeting real Easter chicks! And then the hubby got the grill out for the first BBQ of the year - winner.

We're off to see my parents in West Bay now, so more sunny, happy family fun. And lots of chocolate eggs. What's not to be happy about? xxx